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Ask a Guru - Game Development Edition

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  • waggymiley2013waggymiley2013 Posts: 239 Member
    edited August 2016
    I've always wanted to ask-
    As a Simmer what feature do you miss the most from previous Sims games which isn't in the Sims 4?
    What was your Favourite moments playing Sims 1,2 and 3?
    What's your favourite features and moments in Sims 4?
    Do you like downloading builds from other simmers in your Sims 4 game?


    Guru Question- Do you enjoy reading the Creativity and ideas threads? Do simmers idea's help inspire the team for Sims 4? Do you feel excited about Sims 4 future?

    Questions are to all Guru's that's available to read this tread and respond. I understand if you cant answer. I just wanted to ask Simmer to Simmer :smile: Sorry for wasting your time if these have already been answered else where in the forum

    Answers Here
    Post edited by SimGuruLyndsay on
  • SimaniteSimanite Posts: 4,833 Member
    @SimGuruKimmi Are there any styles you'd personally like to touch on/add onto in CAS/Build Buy that you like IRL? :smile:
  • SimGuruLyndsaySimGuruLyndsay Posts: 339 SimGuru
    Arletta wrote: »
    Oh, yes, and most importantly what is your favourite type of coffee and/or hot beverage if you have one?

    I LOVE a tasty Mocha but the espresso makes my stomach hurt so I'm trying to start loving Green Tea.
  • MsMayMsMay Posts: 440 Member
    Hi! I don't know if this questions have been ask before but here my three questions.

    I was wondering if it's possible in the future, will the "World Editor" will make a comeback in the Sims 4?

    Will any secret lots from different worlds be free to build houses and sims can live there instead of using cheats to access the lots in the future?

    Is it possible to add a color wheel or an external program to add additional colors to items in CAS?
  • SimaniteSimanite Posts: 4,833 Member
    edited August 2016
    @SimGuruLyndsay I see you've mentioned Outdoor Retreat a few times (which I LOVE BTW). Staying on that subject, is it technically possible to add more new vacation worlds to the game? (this isn't me asking for hints, just if its possible) Thanks! :)

    SGLyndsay: Yes, Outdoor Retreat built the core tech we needed to be able to have other "sub-worlds" (like we did with Magnolia Promenade in Get To Work)
    Post edited by SimGuruLyndsay on
  • mskubemskube Posts: 483 Member
    I know you can't discuss future content this is just a fun idea I would love. I really like the sea monster but it seems that she was put there only for the players enjoyment. I would love it if there could be an observation deck where my sims could drop in a coin and search the water and watch for her and the sim children could get excited and be able to talk about that excitement with their sim parents after they spotted the sea monster.
  • PHOEBESMOM601PHOEBESMOM601 Posts: 14,595 Member
    Is there a reason the game creates so many Sims in a short amount of time while Sims I created may get culled? I was bulldozing an entire town and wanted just my Sims in it. The game would create 20 to 40 new Sims in a couple of hours of play.
    "People really love to explore 'failure states. In fact, the failure states are really much more interesting than the success states." ~ Will Wright
  • JasonSim16JasonSim16 Posts: 466 Member
    smiley006 wrote: »
    As a black simmer with long hair I feel there isn't enough hairstyles for us to choose from when creating a black sim. So my question is, would it be possible to add long or shoulder length hairstyle to the game? Right now the the only ones that we have to choose from is Afro and dreads.

    We understand the importance of having diversity in hair textures/styles and definitely consider different types of hair when we are concepting hair for CAS.

    So far we have these hairs for longer African hair textures/style...

    dsxz2gdaqlvd.jpg

    Edit: but if you mean if it's possible to have something like this, it may be possible but will need time and art exploration to make sure we get the hair texture in our art style and looking good.

    Thank you @simgurukimmi I'm a black Simmer too (lol)...so what options are there for the guys and will we be able to see more diverse styles for our black Sims? I love this game and in no way am criticizing...just asking because I always make myself and he changes his looks more than me!

    Keep up the good work, guys! I can't wait to see what else y'all have in store for us Simmers of all colors! <3
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  • Sigzy05Sigzy05 Posts: 19,406 Member
    edited August 2016
    JasonSim16 wrote: »
    smiley006 wrote: »
    As a black simmer with long hair I feel there isn't enough hairstyles for us to choose from when creating a black sim. So my question is, would it be possible to add long or shoulder length hairstyle to the game? Right now the the only ones that we have to choose from is Afro and dreads.

    We understand the importance of having diversity in hair textures/styles and definitely consider different types of hair when we are concepting hair for CAS.

    So far we have these hairs for longer African hair textures/style...

    dsxz2gdaqlvd.jpg

    Edit: but if you mean if it's possible to have something like this, it may be possible but will need time and art exploration to make sure we get the hair texture in our art style and looking good.

    Thank you @simgurukimmi I'm a black Simmer too (lol)...so what options are there for the guys and will we be able to see more diverse styles for our black Sims? I love this game and in no way am criticizing...just asking because I always make myself and he changes his looks more than me!

    Keep up the good work, guys! I can't wait to see what else y'all have in store for us Simmers of all colors! <3

    The guys have a short haircut on GTW and the little "mowhak" that's not really mowhak from the BG plus there are some very short/shaved-like hairstyles that fit black men natural hair too. Plus @SimGuruKimmi forgot the big BG afro. Never the less all these are cross gender.
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  • JasonSim16JasonSim16 Posts: 466 Member
    edited August 2016
    @simgurudrake With being able to see what us Simmers are up to in our game; what's something you see the most of Simmers doing within the game and what's something you see the least? - Answered

    Post edited by SimGuruDrake on
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  • Sigzy05Sigzy05 Posts: 19,406 Member
    Question: Why did you chose to have random sims generating as NPC's all the time, instead of having a set of sims pre-made for these roles like Kaylynn Langerak in TS2 for example?
    mHdgPlU.jpg?1
  • SimaniteSimanite Posts: 4,833 Member
    Very few Simmers use the VooDoo doll.
    lol I've never used that myself! I'll have to try it.
  • Sigzy05Sigzy05 Posts: 19,406 Member
    edited August 2016
    JasonSim16 wrote: »
    @simgurudrake With being able to see what us Simmers are up to in our game; what's something you see the most of Simmers doing within the game and what's something you see the least?

    Very few Simmers use the VooDoo doll. :smile:
    And not very many Simmers use many of the color variants we offer on furniture. That surprised me.
    The most popular skill is cooking, but I think that's because you HAVE to do it. You pretty much gain skill in it accidentally.

    I would use the voodoo doll more if it had VFX on the sim you are bewitching or if they had an animation, but as far as I have experienced they only gain a moodlet and that's it. Plus I think that if the voodoo doll was a satisfaction points reward more people would get it because it would be a little less forgettable, I'm not sure how many simmers know that the doll unlocks on level 3 (or is that 5?) of Mischief or that it's even in the game for ordering through the computer.

    Or perhaps if witches were to be introduced and had special interactions with it people would use it more often.
    mHdgPlU.jpg?1
  • LaynielouxuLaynielouxu Posts: 443 Member
    Tamila0 wrote: »
    There is the opportunity to open Neighbourhood? To one district Sims can walk with no loading screen?

    This
  • JoBass24usJoBass24us Posts: 1,629 Member
    JasonSim16 wrote: »
    @simgurudrake With being able to see what us Simmers are up to in our game; what's something you see the most of Simmers doing within the game and what's something you see the least?

    Very few Simmers use the VooDoo doll. :smile:
    And not very many Simmers use many of the color variants we offer on furniture. That surprised me.
    The most popular skill is cooking, but I think that's because you HAVE to do it. You pretty much gain skill in it accidentally.

    Ha! I bet I've contributed my fair share to the cooking stats, I love cooking in this game.

    I did have a question, if I may. What are some of the most difficult decisions to make in game development? From the little I know sacrifices have to be made I just wondered how you guys as a team make these decisions.

  • Sigzy05Sigzy05 Posts: 19,406 Member
    Question: do you hold back onto adding more rabbit hole careers because they have unlockable objects or is it just purely a preference of focus where careers get sidelined?
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  • JasonSim16JasonSim16 Posts: 466 Member
    JasonSim16 wrote: »
    @simgurudrake With being able to see what us Simmers are up to in our game; what's something you see the most of Simmers doing within the game and what's something you see the least?

    Very few Simmers use the VooDoo doll. :smile:
    And not very many Simmers use many of the color variants we offer on furniture. That surprised me.
    The most popular skill is cooking, but I think that's because you HAVE to do it. You pretty much gain skill in it accidentally.

    OMG! Thanks @SimGuruLyndsay ! That is so interesting! My Sim's gonna try to buy a Voodoo Doll this week! Lol! I know I do tend to stick to the basic colors with furniture. And my Sim loves to cook especially after watching the Cooking Channel!

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  • carlymichellecarlymichelle Posts: 3,402 Member
    Bagoas77 wrote: »
    I'm asking this respectfully: Has the target audience for the sims 4 changed from the target audience of the sims 3 or the target audience of the sims 2?

    I believe the rating is still for teen gamers, but to older sims fans like myself (above 20 years old), ts4 seems slanted toward a younger audience who may not appreciate the nuanced humor, depth, and complexity prevalent in ts2 and ts3. Is this intentional?

    I have always loved that the Sims has such a varied and broad audience. We continue to have players of all ages and genders, from countries all over the world love being part of our Sims world. Nothing about that has changed. We still look at any feature or design through the lens of "how will a Sims player enjoy this". We talk more about the different ways people play than different slices of the audience. We do take into consideration keeping things current, which might feel "younger" in some ways. What's going on in the world today? What's happening in pop culture? What do we see our audience seeing? And what feedback are we getting in surveys or online. t

    The rating has always been T for Teen (and similar in other countries) and that does play a role in what we can do with the game, just as it always has. That has a lot more to do with how far we can push some of our features more so than the ones that we choose.

    We definitely still try to put in as much humor, depth and complexity as we can and that feels appropriate for the experiences we're trying to build. I know we can't hit the perfect balance for everybody but we try to find the sweet spot.

    here in australia all ofthe sims has always been rated M which is reccomended 15 years and over
  • SimTrippySimTrippy Posts: 7,651 Member
    Bagoas77 wrote: »
    I'm asking this respectfully: Has the target audience for the sims 4 changed from the target audience of the sims 3 or the target audience of the sims 2?

    I believe the rating is still for teen gamers, but to older sims fans like myself (above 20 years old), ts4 seems slanted toward a younger audience who may not appreciate the nuanced humor, depth, and complexity prevalent in ts2 and ts3. Is this intentional?

    I have always loved that the Sims has such a varied and broad audience. We continue to have players of all ages and genders, from countries all over the world love being part of our Sims world. Nothing about that has changed. We still look at any feature or design through the lens of "how will a Sims player enjoy this". We talk more about the different ways people play than different slices of the audience. We do take into consideration keeping things current, which might feel "younger" in some ways. What's going on in the world today? What's happening in pop culture? What do we see our audience seeing? And what feedback are we getting in surveys or online. t

    The rating has always been T for Teen (and similar in other countries) and that does play a role in what we can do with the game, just as it always has. That has a lot more to do with how far we can push some of our features more so than the ones that we choose.

    We definitely still try to put in as much humor, depth and complexity as we can and that feels appropriate for the experiences we're trying to build. I know we can't hit the perfect balance for everybody but we try to find the sweet spot.

    here in australia all ofthe sims has always been rated M which is reccomended 15 years and over

    Well 15 is still a teen so it's sort of the same :)
  • ScobreScobre Posts: 20,665 Member
    edited August 2016

    Hi Scobre - this is a lot of questions but I'll try to answer a few.
    Anyway, what can you elaborate on what the production team does and why they need to be a different company that handles Sims decisions?
    I think LifeSimmer might have mixed up the chart we showed her (understandable, we showed A LOT of charts). There is a chunk of the entire team that is production but we have producers across all products. We are not a separate team. The producers facilitate the making of the game and there are producers on each pack. The best description of what a producer does is this video here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUkcz2taCiw

    I'm a little confused on the Expansion explanation:
    https://julyvee94.wordpress.com/2016/08/19/the-sims-panel-and-my-experience-at-gamescom-2016/

    What I was trying to explain is that EPs are our biggest pack. This means we want them to support as many ways of playing as possible. Sometimes it means we don't to entirely deep on just ONE thing but that doesn't mean we don't make deep gameplay. I think Clubs and Retail are actually both quite "deep" in that they pretty fundamentally change the way you can play the game. I mentioned in a different response here that if we had put something like Camping in an EP, we might not have gone so far as adding an entire new camping specific collection or skill or Hermit NPC. Does that explain a little better? We strive to support as many playstyles as we can but you guys play the game in a LOT of interesting and different ways. We try to make sure there's something to do if you like building or creating; something fun to play with making Sims; something new to try and progress through (aspiration or career for example); some new system that changes the way you play with something else and more. We're trying to give a little something for everybody, but not at the expense of having meaningful experiences.

    So according to the pyramid [Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs], why are only sections of the pyramid represented for each iteration? Does that mean that not all the needs are met?
    I wanted to talk about this because it's one way to visualize some of the thinking that went into the Sims originally and that we have referenced as we've evolved. What I was trying to illustrate was that in each iteraction we've tried to move further up the pyramid without ignoring the underlying layers. So no, it doesn't mean that TS1 and TS2 are the only ones that dealt with the bottom layers. Even though TS4 may be pushing up to the "transcendence" level and playing with emotion and accomplishment we still pay attention to the fact Sims need relationships, food, shelter, friends. It's absolutely not a rule, we don't use it that way. It's one way to illustrate the additional layers added to the Sims over the years. It's just a cool psychology tool that happens to explain some of The Sims. We have a lot of other things we take into consideration now that it's a living game, feedback from players like you, that I think give us plenty of options beyond simply this model. It is definitely not a roadmap or rule book.

    I hear about the TS2 studio fire all the time. LOL. I'm pretty sure there was indeed a fire in a server room somewhere but we have backups and backups and backups of backups so no, it's not true we had to rebuild the game from scratch ;) At least nobody ever told me that. Ha! I did however spend many months as the worldbuilder on TS2 and had nightmares about in-game fires burning down my lots ALL THE TIME.

    Thanks for your thoughtful questions!
    Thank you and yeah you answered enough. Sorry I generally type way too much. I just had a lot of questions after Gamescom.

    Thank you for the video link. I forgot you are a producer yourself. I guess that means Maxis employees can be producers, so that makes sense. Sorry one more question, did you ever think you would be a producer when you were younger? So like how SimGuruDrake anchors the community, you are the anchor for the developers to bring people into reality.

    I do like retail and clubs being a sandbox player. Both tools provide a lot of replay value.

    Thanks for the further explanation on how Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs is being applied and nice to know that the bottom layers are still thought about too.

    I don't know what I am other than an outlier Simmer which probably makes things more complicated I guess. I have many variations of play styles from liking to build and edit neighborhoods and terrains yet not getting the guts to build my own worlds yet, to enjoying storytelling aspects in game but not always wanting to share my stories with community, to enjoying the time spent on generation family play but not having the patience to do long legacies, to liking to problem solve aka sandbox but not being told how to play with repetitive quests, to rotational gameplay but not wanting townies to age or story progression to happen with them, and finally deviance although my limit is I don't like killing children and I love supernaturals and random events and the different types of deaths. I think it has been coming up on two years now I've been apart of the vocal community which still feels odd and biggest thing I've learned is that even within certain play styles, there are different variations of those play styles each Simmer has. I think a lot that has to do with that is just different life experiences. So I do understand how difficult that may be to cater to all our different life experiences when making and producing the Sims games.

    Oh cool, finally an answer to that! Been waiting six years to hear what really happened. Thank you. That must have been scary although the pyro Simmer side of me would want to see pictures, which probably Ceres would want to see too.

    I guess I'm more hesitant about the Sims 4 in general. I had to use mods to get my rotational gameplay with the Sims 3, so that was the biggest disappointment with the Sims 4 is even further alienation of play styles. I don't know what the future of the Sims 4 holds, but I admit I am tired of waiting. The Sims 2 was just a perfect game for me and it kind of worries me I'll never love a Sims game as much as I did that one again. I'm really not that much younger than SimGuruDrake, but I admit I am feeling like I'm probably too old to play the Sims 4 at times. I just wish it wasn't the case. I stick to teen rated games anyways, so rating isn't so much an issue. I just don't think I have to change myself as a person to like a game if that makes sense. I just hope that the Sims 4 appeals to more players someday. I'm really sorry my opinion towards the game has changed for the worst over time. Thank you for taking the time to explain development decisions and other questions. I hope you have a great day and weekend.

    Anyway since accounting is my forte, here is a video for Simmers who are curious how the revenue recognition principle works.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-fiBTfSJ74&amp;ab_channel=TheresaDuong

    @SimGuruDrake I like K Dramas too. Secret Garden for example was good.
    Post edited by Scobre on
    “Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it.” –Helen Keller
  • carlymichellecarlymichelle Posts: 3,402 Member
    SimTrippy wrote: »
    Bagoas77 wrote: »
    I'm asking this respectfully: Has the target audience for the sims 4 changed from the target audience of the sims 3 or the target audience of the sims 2?

    I believe the rating is still for teen gamers, but to older sims fans like myself (above 20 years old), ts4 seems slanted toward a younger audience who may not appreciate the nuanced humor, depth, and complexity prevalent in ts2 and ts3. Is this intentional?

    I have always loved that the Sims has such a varied and broad audience. We continue to have players of all ages and genders, from countries all over the world love being part of our Sims world. Nothing about that has changed. We still look at any feature or design through the lens of "how will a Sims player enjoy this". We talk more about the different ways people play than different slices of the audience. We do take into consideration keeping things current, which might feel "younger" in some ways. What's going on in the world today? What's happening in pop culture? What do we see our audience seeing? And what feedback are we getting in surveys or online. t

    The rating has always been T for Teen (and similar in other countries) and that does play a role in what we can do with the game, just as it always has. That has a lot more to do with how far we can push some of our features more so than the ones that we choose.

    We definitely still try to put in as much humor, depth and complexity as we can and that feels appropriate for the experiences we're trying to build. I know we can't hit the perfect balance for everybody but we try to find the sweet spot.

    here in australia all ofthe sims has always been rated M which is reccomended 15 years and over

    Well 15 is still a teen so it's sort of the same :)

    games like GTA etc are rated R here and are sometimes even banned
  • AineAine Posts: 3,043 Member
    edited August 2016
    I was wondering - what is your policy about improving already released features free or from packs, and linking already released features with new ones? For example, improving GTW retail or live careers. Either you could improve a feature with a patch, or with a new pack release that has a similar theme. For instance you could have improved retail when you released Dine out. Or you could add more live careers, or update base game careers to be live careers if we own GTW etc. This kind of immersion is vital to many simmers, so I am wondering what your policy is on this kind of linkage.
    Allons-y!

    ---> Afterlife Game Pack Idea - improved ghosts, cemeteries and funerals, psychics, new skills, new career and more! <---
    ---> Burglary Stuff Pack Idea - Burglars, alarm systems, and diamonds to steal!<---
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